1 Courtlands Tighe Cottages, Chilling Street, Sharpthorne, Nr East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 4JE
Condition: Dated kitchen and bathroom, no central heating, poor insulation (expired EPC rated G), and various items of disrepair including chimney, roof tiles, damp and mould.
Evidence considered
- Tenant submitted four comparable lettings of 3-bed houses (£1,300-£1,600 pcm) in Chichester, St Leonard's-on-Sea, Benenden (Kent), and East Grinstead; landlord argued these were too remote or not rural and therefore of limited value.
- Tribunal gave some weight to the East Grinstead comparable (Copse Close) as geographically closer, though not rural.
- Landlord provided no comparable lettings evidence of his own, only a general report on rising landlord maintenance/compliance costs, which the Tribunal found did not justify any rent adjustment.
- Tribunal relied substantially on its own expert knowledge of local rental values to set a baseline modernised market rent before applying condition-based deductions.
Tenant submitted evidence: yes. Landlord submitted evidence: no.
Tribunal's reasoning
The Tribunal first assessed a modernised market rent of £1,750 pcm based on its own expert knowledge and limited weight given to tenant-submitted comparables, rejecting the landlord's argument that the property should be valued as if fully repaired despite unreported disrepair (since the landlord last inspected six years ago and section 11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 repairing obligations applied). It then applied itemised deductions totalling £645 pcm for lack of central heating, no carpets/floor coverings, no white goods, dated kitchen and bathroom equipment, the tenants' internal decoration obligation, poor insulation, and general disrepair, also accounting for tenant improvements to be disregarded under section 14(2)(b) of the 1988 Act. The tenants' claim of undue hardship as pensioners was acknowledged but did not justify delaying the effective date, as the evidence did not establish undue hardship from the determined (lower) rent.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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